Category: Marketing Ideas

Periscope and other live stream platforms like Facebook Live are some of the newest social media options for online entrepreneurs, authors and business coaches. So, what’s all the hubbub about, anyway?

What’s So Great About Periscope?

Well, for starters, Periscope is new-ish, free, forgiving and fun. Periscope, and live streaming in general, added a new dimension and breathed new life into the social media world. Entrepreneurs got excited about getting in front of the camera on their mobile devices to share their message without lots of prep and planning and many are experiencing a significant return on that investment of time.

So, does that mean only established entrepreneurs with a strong video presence can benefit? Not at all!

Periscope is a platform where people at all levels in their professional or personal journey can shine.

Live streaming allows us, as broadcasters, to reach out to people across the globe and share our message through video as we interact with our viewers in real time. We can share content, breaking news in our business, and make offers. In snippets of time, we can demonstrate our expertise, credibility, and communication style.

As viewers, we have access to content and broadcasters all over the globe and the ability to establish relationships with them as well as with other viewers as if we were invited to an impromptu cocktail party where the hors d’oeuvres are morsels of some of the best online content for free.

While broadcasters and viewers are sharing content, learning, and connecting, they are also building their businesses by getting new clients, filling programs, selling their books and getting immediate feedback as they create more content. Hard to see a downside, right?

Why Isn’t Everyone Using Periscope?

The answer is one of the usual culprits when it comes to stepping out: fear.

Fear of technology, being on camera, speaking, and general uncertainty about what to expect.

The bright side of this is that as online entrepreneurs, we face fear every day and this is just one more step in the journey. A mindset shift to focus on how Periscope can help your business is often all it takes to build the confidence as you quell the fear. The even brighter side is that many people are still not doing this (and perhaps never will) so by joining the Periscope and live stream train, you are a pioneer and have an opportunity for greater impact than those not willing to step into the platform.

Amassing over a million downloads in its first ten days, and growing upwards of 10 million downloads within a few months of that, it’s still estimated that active Periscope broadcasters account for less than 10% of users.

The stage can be yours if you know how to use strategy around it.

How Can Periscope Help My Business?

Periscope is a constantly evolving live stream platform where you can express yourself, your business and your products in creative and engaging ways that capture attention quickly and lead to conversion in terms of new clients and new business.

There are 5 Keys to Periscope Success for Your Business:

1. Engagement

Sharing your content and receiving feedback, answering questions, and interacting with potential clients and customers are great ways to initiate, maintain, and grow relationships. If, as I do, you feel relationships are the backbone of your business, periscope is a vital way to grow.

2. Access

Periscope is a mobile-based app (with viewing available on desktop) designed to “explore the world through someone else’s eyes” (as stated in the periscope.tv tagline). This allows you to broadcast, view and stay connected anywhere you have wifi access and/or data to use the app. It means you can “talk” with and learn from people across the globe who you might otherwise never discover. It also means you and your content can be accessed by people all over the globe.

3. Immediacy

Live stream platforms like Periscope happen in “real time” in the moment. The intrigue of having a conversation with an influencer and the ability to reach your followers at the touch of a button as if you are together are incredible draws.

4. Convenience

Everything you need is on your mobile device. Although equipment and accessories are a great way to upgrade your broadcast experience, they are optional. All you need is your device (smartphone, tablet, or iPad), an idea, and a Periscope account and you can create, engage, and offer calls to action to your viewers.

5. Community

My favorite aspect of Periscope is its sense of community. It has leveled the playing field because broadcasts, even with high numbers, have an intimate feel and people follow and return to broadcasters who offer value. Influencers, newbies and established periscopers continue to foster a welcoming hand of connection. With the strategy to bring these connections to other platforms and offline, it’s easy to continue the “conversation” and discover ways to get more clients, more business, more supporters, and more collaborators.

Are You Using Periscope and the Power of Live Stream?

Why not?

I truly hope that you’ll consider this platform and the strategy to maximize it so that you can join the many entrepreneurs, business coaches and authors who are getting clients, creating new content, refining their offers, and selling more books using the power of Periscope.

I’d love to hear your questions and comments about Periscope and Live Streaming and your experience with it in your business. Please respond in the comments and let’s keep the conversation going. I hope you’ll connect with me on Periscope @debcomanwriting.

We’ve all laughed about how someone’s driver’s license, passport photo or employee ID snapshot doesn’t look at all like that person, or whose business card photo is at least twenty years younger than they are!

It’s funny because the picture is out of sync with the reality. But having your brand match your business is no laughing matter.

What happens when you go from being an established, well-known professional in one field to creating a new company in a very different type of business? How do you take the best of one world and carry over those benefits to a new identity? And how do you get people who know you in one role to see and trust your proficiency when you decide to change what you do? Continue reading

One of the fastest ways to build authority for your brand is by writing a book.

A book gives you instant credibility in the business world. A book can be used in many ways, including: print, a PDF (Portable Document Format), or as a Kindle book.

You can use the book to make money but a better approach is to create the book for the Kindle format, create multiple calls to action within the text and give your book away for free.

This allows you to use your book as a lead generator to help you build your list, which should be your number one objective. Once you have a list of hungry customers who like and trust you, you can sell to them over and over again for years to come.

Millionaire author Gerry Robert created a book and used it as a lead generator. When I found it some years ago it was in a free PDF which I downloaded. I later discovered it was also available as a print version which you could buy, too.

One of the most important business building strategies is to create a list. The reason why is simple. With a list you can sell your products and services to the same clients, over and over again.

According to a Maria Veloso, author of “Web Copy That Sells” if you don’t add clients to a list after a sale you are leaving 90%+ of the potential income you can earn over the lifetime of that client on the table.

The way to entice users to sign up for your list is to give them a valuable and free offering, such as a multi-part email course, a free report or video about your service, or even a coupon.

There are several ways of setting up your blog to collect email addresses. One option is to use a “squeeze page,” where potential customers are directed before they can enter your site. Continue reading

Here is one additional tool I use to identify publicity opportunities and it, also, is FREE!

I’m talking about Google Alerts. Setting up alerts that not only let you know (via email) when you and your business are being talked about, but all these other alerts:

Alerts on:

The topic of your business (business travel, in my case)

Conferences and trade shows in your topic area (“conference social media” and “tradeshow social media” for example)

Experts in your topic area (“Mari Smith social media” for example)

Speaking opportunities (“call for speakers social media” for example)

Statistics in your topic area (“statistics social media” for example)

The magazines/media in your topic area (“Inc. magazine” “social media” for example)

Your name

Your business name

And other areas that you want to keep apprised of in your niche.

Can you see how being alerted with this information could help you apply for speaking opportunities, write an article that can be submitted to a magazine, be a guest blogger on another site and come up with topic ideas for your business? All at no monetary cost, just a bit of your time.

How do you get started? Go to https://www.google.com/alerts, sign into your Google account and start creating alerts. You can have as many as will be valuable to you. Have too many and it may be overwhelming to keep up with!

Emails will begin to flow into your mailbox. I recommend forwarding them automatically to a subfolder so you can review several at a time and have them all in one place.

Google Alerts have been invaluable for me. So set some up today (or add to your existing Google Alert list) and your business will be expanding all over the place!